'The Tidings' Brings Comfort In Shared Sorrow To Cabot Theater

Beverly MA

16 December, 2021

3:27 PM

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BEVERLY, MA — When Paul Van Ness composed "The Tidings" —examining a rarely told aspect of the Christmas story steeped in tragedy and loss — in 1988 while in his late 20s, he said he did so to help deal with struggles in his own personal life. More than three decades later, as the Beverly resident prepares to bring the production to the historic Cabot Theater in his hometown, Van Ness said he's often been told the performance based on the Book of Matthew's account of Joseph and Mary taking the baby Jesus to Egypt to escape the threat of Herod the Great resonates with many in the audience who have experienced their own sorrow and are seeking to be understood more than simply uplifted. Van Ness revived "The Tidings: A Christmas Concert For Those Who Grieve" during a series of small shows on the North Shore in 2018 and feels it is more relevant than ever in the midst of a two-year pandemic that has cost more than 800,000 lives across the country. "Unfortunately, but maybe unanimously agreed, we are living in times that are particularly dark and difficult," he told Patch. "For some people simply Jesus being born into the world is not really an answer that's helpful on its own. It's more allowing that there is a light that shines that maybe can only be seen through the darkness." The darkness in this story is how the joy of the birth of Jesus soon turns perilous when Herod, who believed he was the King of the Jews, learns of a new "Young King" and seeks to find him. When an angel warns Mary and Joseph that Herod has nefarious intent to harm Jesus to prevent him from growing up to become a political rival, they flee to Egypt, while Herod orders the massacre of Jewish boys under the age of 2 in retribution. While the historical accuracy of this account in the Book of Matthew is widely debated, Van Ness said the story as it's told of life being filled with pain as much as promise strikes a chord with many who have felt deep sorrow of their own. "If you are going to write a story about one of the most important and best things that ever happened, would you include the most tragic components?" he said. "A lot of people might not. But the purpose of the story is that we can embrace reality and not deny the injustices that have happened in the world. "Whatever we can do to look these things in the eye, and mourn the losses, to try to make sure things don't happen again." Van Ness said the story is mostly told from Mary's perspective of being a very young mother who is forced to reconcile that — through no fault of her own — a joyous birth for herself and the world has likely led to a catastrophic loss of life and happiness among many other mothers of young children around her. "When we've performed this somehow it brings comfort to people who have experienced death or significant losses," he said. "They've come up to me and said: 'Thank you for telling a story that is as tragic as mine is.' "Our little concert shows there is a way for people to realize that to be a human is to have joy and to have sadness." Van Ness is the pianist in the production and is joined by soprano Megan DeFranza Shannon, cellist Marshunda Smith, and the Tidings Singers: Victoria Dandridge, Alex Edwards, Andrew Hankinson, Daniel Machado, Gretchen MacKilligan, Thomas Smoker and Tiffany Wilson. Van Ness, who has lived in Massachusetts more than 50 years, said most of the cast is from the North Shore. The Dec. 21 performance will be filmed with the hopes it will later air on public television. Tickets start at $20 and can be purchased here. (Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)